Copenhagen: What Ever Happened to OPEC’s Roar?

By

Spencer Swartz

Dec 18, 2009 6:13 pm ET

The world’s biggest oil producers in OPEC turned out to be be among the quietest of the several hundreds of groups attending Copenhagen.

What happened to public demands for many billions of dollars in financial compensation from consumer nations for using less oil down the road, a possibility prior to the conference? Not a whimper here.

Like many interest groups trying to protect and advance their own turf, ministers and officials from OPEC states made a lot of noise ahead of the UN meeting, fearful of what a comprehensive deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions might do to future demand for their oil.

But the prospect of a bold pact during the two-week confab never quite got off the ground. What finally emerged, in the last minutes Friday, was far short of what most were expecting when Copenhagen began. That made it a lot easier for OPEC officials to stay mum and even to apparently muzzle some who’d been the loudest prior to the conference.

Saudi Arabia basically pushed its chief climate change negotiator, Mohammed Al-Sabban, into the shade during the two-week conference after he’d made various public pre-conference comments toughly criticizing…